Shure E500 = sibilant.. busted driver?

[dranoel4190]

i just got a preowned shure e500pth and it seems that theres a lot of sibilance in them. I never remembered it being this sibilant when i tried an se530 at the local store. Its even more sibilant than my ue super.fi 5pro. they seem to be working fine (no cracking, all frequencies are there) but honestly, im underwhelmed by the SQ. again it seems that my last audition with them is not like this.

btw, i bought this in ebay in the US and had it shipped here in manila. do you think local shure distributors will honor warranty? they do have international warranty right?

 

[MD1032]

Wow, sibilance is the last thing that comes to mind when I think of the E500. I would say it's the most neutral IEM I've ever heard. Send them in for repairs... there's bound to be something wrong. Maybe wax in the drivers, who knows. Also, check your tips and seal.

 

[Matteman]

Sibilance is impossible for the SE530s vs the SF5 Pro's. There is something wrong with that pair, better send 'em back!

 

[dranoel4190]

thats what i thought too.


i just hope local distro will honor shure's warranty even w/o the receipt

 

[mrdeadfolx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, sibilance is the last thing that comes to mind when I think of the E500.

Couldn't have said it better myself. They are some of the warmer IEM's I've ever heard, if not the warmest.

 

[catscratch]

I doubt there's anything wrong with the canalphones per se. Sibilance is a sure sign of a bad fit. While the E500 usually isn't sibilant (though it can be with bad recordings) improper fit will drop out the bass frequencies and exaggerate the lower treble.

Try everything in the fit kit, especially the foamies. They're usually the easiest tips to get a good seal with, and they also gave me the best sound.

It's also entirely possible that, with your ear canal anatomy, you simply cannot get a good fit. I certainly can't get an equal fit in both ears, and there is always more bass in the left channel when using a universal-fit IEM. If that's the case, you could always get custom-molded tips or just get a fully custom-molded earphone; with the Livewires and the like on the market, you don't have to shell out a fortune for one. The ES2 gives me balanced sound and (nearly) perfect fit in both ears, and it sounds quite a bit better than the E500, too.

 

[dranoel4190]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch /img/forum/go_quote.gif I doubt there's anything wrong with the canalphones per se. Sibilance is a sure sign of a bad fit. While the E500 usually isn't sibilant (though it can be with bad recordings) improper fit will drop out the bass frequencies and exaggerate the lower treble. Try everything in the fit kit, especially the foamies. They're usually the easiest tips to get a good seal with, and they also gave me the best sound. It's also entirely possible that, with your ear canal anatomy, you simply cannot get a good fit. I certainly can't get an equal fit in both ears, and there is always more bass in the left channel when using a universal-fit IEM. If that's the case, you could always get custom-molded tips or just get a fully custom-molded earphone; with the Livewires and the like on the market, you don't have to shell out a fortune for one. The ES2 gives me balanced sound and (nearly) perfect fit in both ears, and it sounds quite a bit better than the E500, too.

actually thats the first thing that came to my mind. but i have already tried all tips and some shure black olives. i know i have inserted them properly since i can hear the punchy bass. the deciding factor was when i tried a different e500 unit at a local store and mine does seem to be a lot sibilant.

im thinking the previous owner must have been playing them at a high volume for quite some time. maybe the high frequency driver got damaged or something.

anyway i have already talked with the local shure distro and they might be able to replace them. but they also said they need the receipt. i just hope the seller still has it.

 

[basman]

Try to present the warranty card but I'm not sure if it will help.

 

[grenert]

I agree with the others that I can't begin to fathom E500s sounding sibilant. Either they're broken/defective or there's something wrong upstream. What are you listening to (source, amp if any, music)?

In my experience, Shure has excellent customer service. However, you bought them used, so I'm not sure they will still help you.

 

[dranoel4190]

i could send them back to the original owner and have him replace it with shure but that would be too time consuming.


the previous owner havent found the receipt yet and shure's local distro said that its a definite requirement.

argh.. the wait is killing me!

 

[shigzeo]

i gave up on the um2 and e500 as they maybe were not sibiland but very very tiring in the treble for my ears. it could be that this op is allergic to the e500 the way i am. great phones though, just... they are armatures and very piercing.

 

[dranoel4190]

ok he said he bought it thru trust electronics in ebay. but the seller is not replying back for a request to resend the receipt.

im getting desperate now. im not able to use my e500 since i got them 3weeks ago. is it ok if i use a different receipt? anyone kind enough to send me their copy pleaseeeee...

 

[Pianist]

I don't know if you may have a similar problem, but I experienced something like that with my old pair of Shure SE530s. In the beginning, they sounded the way they should - pretty balanced and no frequencies stood out too much. Then, after a few months of usage, I noticed that the sound degraded - I compared them to a brand new pair at a local store and the difference was very obvious. My old pair seemed to be missing certain bass frequencies, which really messed up the overall sound. The highs started to sound harsh and unpleasant, and the mids were out of tune with the rest of the spectrum. I almost stopped using them, but, luckily, the cable on one of the earphones cracked after a month and I just got a brand new 2008 pair of SE530s two days ago which sounds perfect. I am guessing that since the Shure is a triple-driver IEM and my old one was released back in the fall of 2006, it may be that Shure still hadn't tweaked the SE530s to perfection back then, so some might have failed to work properly. I heard the same problems with UE Triple.fis when they were first released. There was some guy who bought four pairs and all of them failed after a while because of bad crossovers between the drivers! I say, you need to replace your Shures if you can. Since you got a used pair it might have been one of the first ones released and so more prone to failing.

Oh, yeah, and you can look up the date when yours were made by reading the 5 digit number located on the jack of the earphones - the first three numbers is the day of the year it was release and the last two is the year.

 

[Joelc87]

Hmm this is interesting because while being very bass heavy I did think that the sibilance was very harsh from the SE530's. That's one of the main reasons I switched to the Triple.fi 10's.

 

[Hardwired]

When I first got my e500s they were very sibilant and based on other people's descriptions I thought I had the wrong phones. After a few hours the sound rounded off just as I had heard them described but they did have treble problems at first.

Maybe give them a few hours, say 20 or so, to see if they settle in? I know you say they were used, but do you know how many hours they had been used before you got them?